Wilmington, NC News

Archive for November, 2012

One of four veterans killed after a train crashed into a parade float in Texas Thursday was from Camp Lejeune, according to WITN. Another was a soldier from Fort Bragg, and one was reportedly a defense contractor from Southern Pines.

BLADEN COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A former NC Department of Health and Human Services employee avoided jail time by pleading guilty earlier this month to two counts of felony obtaining property by false pretense.

Investigators say Sandra Anderson Baldwin of Elizabethtown worked for the Vocational Rehabilitation Division in BladenCounty. From August 2009 through June 2010 they say Baldwin misappropriated more than $17,379.50 of funds.

Prosecutors say Baldwin used her access to the Vocational Rehabilitation Computer system to falsify and alter case records for individuals who may have been eligible for services had the proper legal process been followed, as well as some individuals who were not eligible for services.

A judge sentenced Baldwin to two consecutive terms of a minimum of six months and a maximum of eight months in jail. The sentence was then suspended, and Baldwin was placed on supervised probation for five years and ordered to pay restitution.

MIDLAND, TX (WTVD & AP) — Officials say three North Carolina men are among the victims of a horrific accident in Texas involving veterans taking part in a parade to honor war heroes.

The joyful celebration turned to chaos as a train, its horn blaring, barreled into a float laden with veterans and their spouses. At least four veterans were killed in the collision Thursday afternoon.

Among the dead were Army Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 47, and Army Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers, 43 – both of Fayetteville. Also killed was Chief Warrant Officer Gary Stouffer, 37 of Hubert in Onslow County.

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — The wife of an Army general facing sexual misconduct charges at Fort Bragg has written an opinion piece saying the stresses of a decade of war contributed to several recent high-profile military sex scandals.

Rebecca Sinclair’s husband, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, faces a long list of charges including forcible sodomy and wrongful sexual conduct. The 27-year Army veteran was deputy commander in charge of logistics and support for the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan before being relieved in May.

In her piece in The Washington Post, Rebecca Sinclair says her husband is not guilty of the charges. She points out he spent more than six years in the past decade away from his family.

Rebecca Sinclair says nothing good can come of families being chronically separated for a decade.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — By the end of today, ten days after the polls closed, we will finally know the official results of the November 6 election. And if the votes hold the way they stand now, Rep. Mike McIntyre will return to Washington for a ninth term in Congress.

Unofficial results on the North Carolina Board of Elections website show McIntyre holding a 5176-vote lead over Republican challenger David Rouzer in their race for the 7th District seat in the US House. That’s 81 votes more than when the day began.

By 3:20 p.m., out of 335,551 votes counted, McIntyre’s lead represents 0.16 percent of the total. Those results, though, could still change slightly as vote counts are made official in North Carolina today and submitted to the state Board of Elections.

Still, assuming there is no significant change in the numbers, it is likely Rouzer will ask for a recount. If the margin remains within one percent, he will not have to pay for that second tally. In a statement yesterday, Rouzer’s spokeswoman said the campaign would wait for today’s certification and decide where to go from there.

Rouzer’s camp has remained quiet since Election Day, and Rouzer has not spoken publicly since talking to supporters at his Election Night party in Benson. The state senator from Johnston County, though, has been taking part in Congressional orientation in Washington this week, as he is eligible to do because of the close margin in the race. He was even part of a photo yesterday of Congressional freshmen.

McIntyre, meanwhile, basically declared victory around 11:30 p.m. on Election Night despite his razor thin lead in the returns. Earlier this week his campaign sent out a news release saying the Congressman was heading back to Washington to get back to work.

The McIntyre-Rouzer race is one of a handful of US House battles across the country that are still undetermined. They are not likely to have a great deal of influence nationally, though, as Republicans maintained their majority in the House in the election.

Also up for grabs in today’s vote canvassing is the race for North Carolina’s second highest office. Republican Dan Forest leads Democrat Linda Coleman by a margin of 0.24 percent in their contest for lieutenant governor, according to the state Board of Elections website this morning.